The Parting Song of Jakelin Caal

Tell me, please, do I look like an outlaw, criminal drug dealer or terrorist?

Did I make a fist in your face, or was I just a child needing to be kissed?

And did I even resist being taken into custody for your political reasons

In this season of xenophobia, when love of another is seen as high treason?

Did I mock you as you’ve mocked us, dear president, or did I merely cry

For water and bread with no more said to those who imprisoned me?

And can you not see how many more boys and girls want more than toys

At Christmas time this year ~ we just want to be safe and full of cheer…

But you didn’t even try, you let me die, and so now here I lie in state

For having taken the bait of an empty promise of safety in a land of plenty,

But do you even know as you string another bow, taking aim for fame?

Ah! But for me it’s okay now … for I am at peace … can you say the same?

You may read about this story reported byUSA Todayon 12/15/2018 or byNBC on 12/14/2018, which reads in part:

Before the group left Antelope Wells by bus to be transferred to a border station, Jakelin’s father reported that she was ill and vomiting. By the time she arrived at the border station an hour-and-a-half later, she was not breathing. She was revived twice by emergency workers and then transported by air to a hospital in El Paso, Texas, where she died of cardiac arrest with her father by her side.

Jakelin was severely dehydrated; however, officials say that migrants were given access to water at Antelope Wells…

The incident raises questions about CBP’s emergency procedures and the Trump administration’s policy of delaying immigrants at legal ports of entry, forcing them to decide between waiting for weeks to months in dangerous border towns or traveling through dangerous areas along the border.